The 2nd Western District Military Court received the materials of the case against journalist Aider Muzhdabaev under the article on incitement to terrorism, Mediazona drew the attention of.
The case will be considered in absentia, since Muzhdabaev, who previously worked in » Moskovsky Komsomolets”, left Russia in 2015. Then he took the position of Deputy General Director of the Ukrainian TV channel ATR, which broadcasts to the Crimean Tatar population.
The case against Muzhdabayev was initiated in 2019, at the same time he was included in the “list of terrorists and extremists” maintained by Rosfinmonitoring. According to the card on the website of the court, there are two episodes of incitement to terrorism in the case (Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code).
The Investigative Committee reported that the reason was two posts on Facebook, where Muzhdabayev urged «to seize Russian agents by force» and exchange them for director Oleg Sentsov, who was serving a sentence in the Russian colony in Labytnangi.
“Put machine guns to their (Russian agents-MZ) temples and under the cameras, demand from Putin to immediately extradite Sentsov in exchange for them. Otherwise, their execution without trial or investigation. I understand that this is illegal, that it looks crazy, but I refuse to accept the death of Sentsov without trying to save him by any — any — ways, ”the post of August 8, 2018 said. Then Sentsov continued his hunger strike, which he ended up holding for 145 days.
The post is currently unavailable. Muzhdabayev removed it the day after it was published. What second publication was the reason for the persecution is unknown. In 2020, Russia put Muzhdabaev on the international wanted list.